Somali Pirates: Rejected by Dutch Marines

Somali pirates do not press encounter as Dutch marines ward off pirate attack:

Dutch marines guarding a merchant ship have warded off an attack by pirates after it was accosted in the Arabian Sea south of Yemen, the Dutch defence ministry said Tuesday.

"Dutch marines warded off the attack when pirates approached the Flintstone", a ship that dumps rocks to protect oil and gas pipelines, at around 6:00 am (0500 GMT), it said in a statement.
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"The marines tried in vain to stop the fast-moving skiff, occupied by six men armed with an assortment of weapons including a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), by firing tracers as a warning," the ministry said.

After one of the men aimed the RPG at the ship, the marines fired on the skiff, which turned around and joined the larger fishing vessel.

"It's not excluded that there may have been casualties among the attackers," the ministry said.

Putting armed guards on merchants has slowed the pirates down.

Dutch Government Minister Warns Private Armed Guards On Dutch Ships Could Be Legal Violation

Reported as Armed guards on ships could be an offence, says minister:

Shipping firms which place private armed security guards on ships passing areas where pirates operate risk criminal prosecution, justice minister Ivo Opstelten said on Thursday evening.

Jumbo Shipping from Rotterdam and Vroon Shipping based in Breskens have both said they will carry armed guards while sailing under the Dutch flag.

Just one more complication in the battle against Somali pirates.

No wonder the Jolly Roger has a smile on his face. 

Somali Pirates: Dutch Marines and Navy Take Out Two Pirates, Capture 16

In a rescue effort involving an Iranian fishing boat, Dutch marines kill 2 pirates off Somali coast, capture 16 more:

Dutch Marines

Dutch marines killed two pirates and captured 16 others during an operation to free a hijacked Iranian fishing boat off the coast of Somalia, the Defense Ministry said Monday.

The deadly firefight marked the first time Dutch forces have killed suspected pirates while patrolling the Gulf of Aden as part of an international anti-piracy flotilla.

HNLMS Tromp (F803)

Marines from the frigate HMS Tromp opened fire on the pirates on the hijacked Iranian boat Sunday after they shot at two Dutch inflatable speedboats sent to investigate the fishing vessel, the ministry said.

Ten suspected pirates were captured as they tried to flee in a high-speed skiff and six more were detained on the fishing boat. The bodies of two suspected pirates killed in the firefight also were recovered on the vessel.

Press release (and photos) from Netherlands Ministry of Defense, here (Google translation with my corrections):

Dutch Marines approach dhow (NL MOD Photo)

Surrender of pirates  (in bow of dhow with hands on heads) (NL MOD Photo)

Dutch Marines overpower attempted escape effort by pirates (NL MOD photo)

Yesterday morning while approaching a suspect fishing boat two RHIB from HMS Tromp were fired upon. Marines on the RHIB's (Rigid-hulled inflatable boat) and others in the Tromp answered the fire. In a second approach 10 Somalis left the fishing boat with a fast skiff with the purpose of avoiding capture. After the Marines fired warning shots, the escape attempt stopped and the Somalis were captured. Some among them had injuries.

Cleaning the sea of pirates

After it appeared that the remaining Somalis on board the hijacked fishing boat (called a dhow) wanted to surrender, a boarding team from the Tromp boarded the suspect vessel.

In addition to the 16-member crew, there were two dead Somalis and 6 living Somalis. The two dead were likely killed by the gunfire. These six suspects, together with the other 10 are now being held. Evidence of piracy was found on board the hijacked dhow.

While searching the liberated dhow, Hr. Ms. Tromp was approached by a previously pirated merchant ship apparently seeking to free the dhow. With a number of shots from the Tromp across the bow of the merchant this effort by the pirates failed. The hijacked merchant vessel turned back toward the berth where she came from.

Well done.

UPDATE: Judging by the firepower evident on the Dutch side, the pirates who fired the shots at the RHIBS might have been a trifle over confident.

Revised title of post to reflect reality.

UPDATE2: Dead Pirates Buried at Sea:

The bodies of the two Somali pirates who were probably killed in a firefight with marines from the HNLMS Tromp have been buried at sea. The frigate’s captain took the decision after in consultation with the defence ministry in The Hague.

A spokesperson for the defence ministry said that the decision was motivated by a number of factors, including the high temperatures in the region and the possibility to return the bodies to next of kin. The bodies of the two Somalis were examined before being buried at sea.

Perfect.

Taking it to the Somali Pirates: Dutch frigate opens fire on pirate ship

Radio Netherlands reports "Dutch frigate opens fire on pirate ship":

The Dutch frigate HNLMS De Ruyter has opened fire on a ship carrying pirates in the Arabian Sea, according to the Dutch Ministry of Defence.

At the end of the afternoon, a helicopter discovered a suspected pirate mother ship 40 kilometres away from the frigate. The ship did not respond to radio signals to identify itself and failed to stop when warning shots were given.

As the Dutch frigate could not be certain there were no hostages on board the pirate ship, marksmen destroyed a skiff on the deck of the mother ship rendering it impossible for the pirates to carry out attacks on other vessels. Pirates off the east coast of Africa often use smaller boats to attack merchant ships in the vicinity of mother ships.

The Dutch, once again, show some creativity (and some common sense) in fighting the Somali pirates.

UPDATE: Photos and a (Babelfish translation) from the Netherlands Defense site on the event:

Pirate Mother Ship: Name on Stern and Bow is Japan 555

Circle on Photo Indicates Location of Pirate Skiff

Warning Shot

Hr. M. The Ruyter acted yesterday in the Arab sea against a mother ship that it is used at piracy action for attacks on passing by sailing through ship.

Skiffs on board of mother ship, were made harmless with precision fire. Hr.Ms. The Ruyter warned mother ship with a shot for the stem.
At the end of the afternoon the Ruyter's helicopter discovered the suspected mother ship about 40 kilometres distance from Hr. M. The Ruyter. The ship suspected of piracy did not respond to radio calls and did not stop after giving warning shots with the ship's gun.

Because of the possible presence of hostages it was not possible overpower the mother ship. Instead, tt was decided to destroy the engine block-system of the skiffs by a sharpshooter of the special forces of the Marines.

By rendering these skiffs harmless, it is impossible for the pirates on board the mother ship to carry out other attacks. At present pirates in the whole Indian ocean use more and more mother ships as from they carry out attacks with skiffs on passing merchantmen.

The presence of hostages on board of the mother ships, makes fighting of this a complicated matter. Eliminating the skiffs is a way pirate activities are disturbed and eliminates the possible harm to hostages. ****

Somali Pirates: Interntional Effort Leads to Maltese soldiers nabbing suspected pirates

Last Friday, a German patrol plane, a Dutch warship and Maltese soldiers teamed up to grab some suspected pirates as set here:

. . . Dutch warship Johan de Witt, on which the Maltese soldiers are based, intercepted a skiff with six suspected pirates on board in the Gulf of Aden.

The skiff was detected by a German Orion patrol maritime aircraft as it was moving towards HNLMS Johan de Witt at great speed.

As the alarm was sounded on board the ship, an Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) security team rapidly prepared itself for action.

As soon as those aboard the skiff realised that they were dealing with a military vessel, they changed course in the direction of the coast. The Dutch warship fired a number of warning shots, after which the boat stopped and the suspected pirates surrendered. The AFM security team quickly secured the skiff and transferred those on board onto the navy ship.

Photo is from the Neterhlands Ministry of Defence

Somali Pirates: Dutch court convicts 5 pirates

Reported here:

A Dutch court has convicted five Somalis of piracy and sentenced them to five years each in prison in the first piracy case to come to trial in Europe.

The five were convicted of attacking a freight ship in the Gulf of Aden in January 2009.

Prosecutors asked for a seven-year sentence, but the judge said he took into account the difficult conditions in Somalia that led the men to piracy.

"It is a lucky coincidence that nobody was killed or wounded" in the attack, said judge Klein Wolterink.

Somali Pirates: The EU Has a Plan and is Acting on that Plan!

Wonders never cease, as the EU (the Dutch Navy, really) is putting a squeeze on some Somali pirates in advance of "crunch time" for the pirates.

All as set out in EU NAVFOR warship HNLMS Johan de Witt blocking pirate access to the sea:

EU NAVFOR HNLMS Johan de Witt has effectively blocked known pirate camp on the Somali coast from access to the open sea.

As an amphibious ship, HNLMS Johan de Witt is able, from a dock within the ship, to launch a number of smaller vessels, LCVPs (Landing craft for vehicle and personnel transport), that can provide a blockading role on selected known pirate areas of the Somali coast.

Under orders from the Swedish EU NAVFOR Force Headquarters Ship Carlskrona, the warship Johan de Witt was positioned on the Somali coast to provide surveillance and reconnaissance patrols with the aim of gaining useful information while restricting and interdicting pirate movement on the coast. With the onset of the monsoon, increasingly poor weather conditions making pirate activities very difficult, creating an urgency amongst the pirates to get to sea quickly.

EU NAVFOR HNLMS Johan de Witt is providing an excellent blocking force and very effectively denying pirate access to the high sea at a time when worsening weather conditions is making pirate operations increasingly more difficult.

Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?

An earlier report here. I like the Dutch.

Somali pirates tried under 17th century law

Somali pirates tried under 17th century law :

Five Somali men went on trial in a Dutch court for the 17th century crime of “sea robbery” Tuesday in Europe’s first piracy trial since a surge of attacks on shipping off the Somalia’s lawless coast. One defendant wept and shouted that poverty had forced him into his situation.

That's a pretty sad defense, since almost all robberies can be justified that way.

Maybe you remember the song lyrics:

Breaking rocks in the hot sun
I fought the law and the law won
I fought the law and the law won
I needed money 'cause I had none
I fought the law and the law won

The pirates could get up to 12 years in prison.

17th Century law? Hey, it's an old crime.

Somali Pirates: More EU/Swedish/Dutch Anti-Pirate Action

Reported by MSC(HOA) here:

EU NAVFOR Dutch warship Tromp disrupts more Pirate Action Groups

30/03/2010 16.09 UTC

Continuing success by EU NAVFOR over the last 24 hours by Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) and EU NAVFOR HNLMS Tromp, has led to the detention of 10 suspected pirates and the destruction of a Pirate Action Groups (PAG).

On 28th Mar, the EU NAVFOR Swedish Maritime Patrol aircraft (MPA) located a PAG almost 700 miles east of Mogadishu and informed the Force Commander onboard the Italian warship ETNA. The Force Commander, Admiral Giovanni Gumiero tasked TROMP with intercepting the PAG. EU NAVFOR warship TROMP launched her helicopter and forced the suspected pirates to stop their skiffs. A boarding operation was conducted and 10 suspected pirates were detained. A large number of fuel barrels were found and destroyed. Two attack skiffs were also destroyed and the suspects were provided with sufficient fuel and water to reach the coast in a third boat.

During this period of highly successful disruption operations, EU NAVFOR French, Spanish, German and Dutch warships and Maritime patrol Aircraft from Sweden and Luxembourg have interdicted some 17 Pirate Groups, accounting for more than 131 suspected pirates with HNLMS Tromp alone accounting for the apprehension of 61 suspected pirates.

More on the Swedish MPA here. Earlier post on the "pirate cleansing" Tromp here.

Also set out in an update here, the EU was involved with the Seychelles Coast Guard success against pirates by providing a Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

UPDATE2: Some might be confused with the mention of Luxembourg providing MPA - they are apparently using modified, leased CAE Aviation Swearingen Merlin III aircraft based in the Seychelles. These aircraft appear to be equipped with the WESCAM™ MX-20 Sensor System

Somali Pirates: Dutch Pirate Cleanser

From the EU MSC(HOA):

Early this morning, 17 March, two small skiffs made a fast approach on the EU NAVFOR Dutch HNLMS TROMP with, what appeared, to be a pirate attack.

The TROMP fired warning shots as they approached and it was this action that alerted the “would be” pirates to the fact that they were trying to attack a well armed Naval warship.

The warship, HNLMS TROMP of the Royal Netherlands Navy, was patrolling the region as part of the ongoing EU counter-piracy mission, when it was approached at high speed by two small vessels, known as skiffs, shortly after 0630 GMT. Warning shots were fired by the naval vessel, which also deployed its helicopter to intercept the suspects who attempted to flee. An EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) from Sweden was also on the scene, tracking a third boat, the suspected pirates’ mother ship, and monitoring the safety of any merchant shipping in the area.

A search of the skiffs by the EU NAVFOR ship uncovered ammunition and some rocket propelled grenades were also found. Ten suspects were held on board the warship before being released to one of their boats. Having completed the search, the warship destroyed the other two skiffs and reported the incident to the Seychelles Coast Guard, with whom the EU NAVFOR works closely. This is the 11^th Pirate Attack Group that EU NAVFOR has been involved in disrupting in the last 2 weeks.

Cleaning up the sea. Nice.

UPDATE: Post title was even more appropriate than I knew. From the Royal Netherlands Navy website here, more on the "sweeping up" of the pirates (Google translation):

Frigate Again Arrests Somali Pirates

The frigate Hr. Ms. Tromp again today discovered and disarmed a group of pirates. The air defense and command frigate Tromp is the Somali coast engaged in Operation Sweeping Broom "and grabbed 9 pirates earlier this week after a failed robbery attempt.
Almost immediately after the earlier arrest Tromp discovered 3 boats again, a mother and 2 small skiffs with pirates. The pirates were now found nearly 400 kilometer southwest of the Seychelles. After the boats were detected  by radar at about 30 kilometers, action was taken. With the Lynx helicopter on board and 2 RHIB (rigid-hulled inflatable boat) with special units of the Marines the 3 skiffs were forced to stop. Several warning shots fired from a helicopter and the RHIB.

On board the skiffs were found several indications of piracy, and weapons such as ladders. All 13 skiff crew were arrested and then placed in a boat with sufficient fuel, water and food in the mother skiff located so they can reach the Seychelles, according to EU directives. The Seychelles Coastguard was informed of the upcoming skiff. The 2 pirate skiffs were destroyed by Hr.Ms. Tromp and piracy attributes were seized.
The 9 pirates arrested earlier this week are still aboard. The Tromp will assist them in the course of this week off the coast of Somalia.

Operation 'Sweeping Broom "will continue to deter pirates. With the current "sweep" is a symbolic link to the namesake of the Tromp, Admiral Maarten Tromp. After his victory over the British in 1652 he had a broom to the mast as a sign that bind the sea was swept clean. Since then located in the cabin of the commander of all Dutch naval vessel named Hr. Ms. Tromp a broom. For special events, the broom hoisted a sign that the ocean Tromp rid of anyone who stands in the way of peace.

Lower photo caption: "The commander of Hr. Ms. Tromp,Captain Hans Lodder, next to the broom in the cabin." All photos inthe update from Netherlands Ministry of Defense.

His broom is more traditional than mine, but the meaning is the same.

UPDATE2: It occurs to me that some of you may be too young to know about Old Dutch Cleanser, a pumice based cleaning product popular in the early 20th Century.

Somali Pirates: One that got away

Dutch tanker escapes pirates from Radio Netherlands Worldwide:

On 30 December at 9.15am the helmsman on the bridge sights a fishing boat. “Somali pirates use fishing boats as mother ships. This allows them to work 600 miles off the coast. The fishing boats are equipped with a so-called skiff, a polyester speedboat measuring five to six metres with a powerful outboard motor, which can make 25 knots in a calm sea.” “In less than ten minutes we see the skiff heading for us, but because of the waves it isn’t making much headway. To be on the safe side, I change course by 90 degrees, so I’m sailing directly into the waves.” This makes it harder for the pirates to draw alongside. “On both port and starboard they then have to deal with around two-metre waves.”

Photo from the capture of a "pirate attack group" by the Portuguese Navy Frigate Alvares Cabral found here.

Somali Pirates: Negotiations begin with Dutch ship owners

Reported here:

A Dutch shipping company has been in contact with Somali pirates who hijacked a ship with nine crew members as it traveled through the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, a spokesman said Tuesday.
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Lars Walder, of Reider Shipping BV, which owns the MV Amiya Scan, revealed the company has been in contact with the hijackers and that none of the crew had been harmed.

"Everybody was fine under the circumstances," he said, speaking from Winschoten, Netherlands. "They were all fine ... [and] were treated quite well."

The ship was anchored off the coast of Somalia, within Somalia's 20-kilometer (12-mile) territorial limit, Walder said.

He would not comment on the pirates' demands out of concern for the crew of four Russians and five Filipinos, and would not say whether the shipping company was negotiating with them.

Paying ransom just encourages more piracy, as is noted "Somali officials" here:

Somali officials say foreign countries encourage piracy by paying ransoms for hijacked ships that can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"As always, we are calling on the owners of the ship not to pay any ransom to the pirates, as that would only encourage criminals," Aware said in a special Cabinet meeting to discuss the hijacking.

Aren't there any Dutch war ships in the area? They used to have a great navy.